Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A United Nations Development Programme report released today places importance on transforming global institutions, and establishing fair trade and investment rules. The report calls for global reform of the intellectual property rights regime and investor protection regime. In addition, the report ranks countries on their human development level, putting Norway first followed by Australia and Switzerland.
After the announcement in December of a record US$75 billion commitment to its International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group said today that this commitment was both historic in terms of value, and also a sign of a paradigm change, including the raising of funds from capital markets.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - The five-metre tall 3D printer dwarfs four engineers in the renewable energy laboratory at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, the biggest tertiary institution in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
The United Nations Human Rights Council held a panel discussion yesterday to exchange views on good practices and key challenges relevant to access to medicines. The panel gave a large part of the discussion to the recent report of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, much to the chagrin of the European Union and the United States.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- A dispute between Kenyan researchers and the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, over ownership of a cancer discovered after successful clinical trials in Kenya finally seems headed to courts.
The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva this week will host a panel discussion among a notable range of experts on access to medicines and the controversial UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel report issued last September. The panel is expected to lead to a report sent on to the Human Rights Council for possible action next autumn.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is deliberating on how to start over on its search for a new executive director after questions arose near the end of the process.
A new paper from the intergovernmental South Centre argues that intellectual property provisions in recent free trade agreements would impair countries trying to fulfil the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Image Credits: South Centre
Multilateral institutions have received a lift with the realization of the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement that is expected to provide a boost to sluggish international commerce by cutting out clogging regulations. Image Credits: Peter Kenny
The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and its sister organisation, Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle [African Intellectual Property Organization] (OAPI) have signed a memorandum of understanding to harmonise the intellectual property systems of the two institutions.
Once considered a breakthrough in negotiations to address problems of making cutting-edge medical products and research available to poor countries, the decade-old World Health Organization Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (GSPOA) is now undergoing review, with the WHO Executive Board calling for a report on the initiative and plans for its future next year.
The construction of a new building to host the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other key players in the area of global health is well under way in Geneva. The “Campus Santé” (Health Campus) is expected to open its doors at the beginning of 2018. The hosts of the building will be tenants, while the investment costs are borne by Crédit Suisse, a prominent Swiss investment bank.